DECEMBER 30TH, 2017
As we come to the end of our 10th anniversary year, we’re looking back at some of the great things to happen along the way. Here are ENVE’s top 10 photographs of the year.
1) Greg Minnaar wins UCI World Cup DH, Fort William June 2017
Photo by: Dave Trumpore
Sometimes it seems Greg Minnaar couldn’t help but write the sport’s history with his every tire track. At rd2 of this year’s UCI DH series, he stormed to his seventh victory at Fort William and in doing so took the first World Cup win for 29” wheels, riding ENVE M90 prototypes. You can just see Minnaar’s legs sticking out from under the pile of friends and team-mates, topped by an ecstatic Steve Peat holding Greg’s bike aloft.
2) Luke Strobel Finds Red Rock, Moab, August 2017
Photo by: Dylan Stucki
Shredder extraordinaire Luke Strobel played a key role in developing our latest M Series wheels and he was the perfect rider to demonstrate them for our film, which celebrates the joy of attacking one of the world’s best and most demanding trails. The Whole Enchilada, in iconic Moab, is 27.5 miles from the La Sal Mountains to the Colorado River, 8,000 feet below. This shot captures Luke in full flight amid the incredible, imposing landscape, all bathed in late afternoon sun. The ‘golden hour’ has never been so literal.
If you’ve not yet seen the film, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ana6az4zGvo
3) The Master at Work, Arizona, March 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
Not only does Neil Shirley “routinely crush souls in gravel races,” he compounds the thrashing by doing so with a smile on his face. At any rate, if you’re thinking of gravel or mixed surface events like Crusher in the Tushar, Canyon Belgian Waffle Ride, Grasshopper Adventure Series 2018 or Dirty Kanza 200 The World’s Premier Endurance Gravel Road Race, Neil has penned the ISGG, or definitive gravel standard.
4) Fruita Playground, Colorado, August 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
Fruita, Colorado has some of the most diverse desert riding the southern USA has to offer. ENVE employee Mark Currie plays on his M525s before dropping in to the Zippity Doo Dah trail. While the 18 Road trails aren’t very technical, they make up for it in speed and joy when rolling up and down the ridge lines.
5) Hight Altitude Technique, Colorado, July 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
The new M7 and M9 mountain wheels are designed for the increasingly hardcore evolution of enduro and trail riding, with hugely increased pinch-flat protection, so when it came to shooting the brochure we knew we needed a spectacular and demanding location to demonstrate what these wheels can do. The merciless rock gardens and sheer drops of Colorado’s Kennebec Pass fitted perfectly. This shot has everything: peaks, snow, a cliff-edge trail and two guys having a ball riding monstrous rocks with true confidence.
6) Kona Training, Hawaii, October 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
Lava fields, mountains, and aero bikes – it could only be the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. It’s a dramatic and photogenic place, so there are hundreds of striking images shot there every year. However, we especially love this one for the low morning light and the combination of granular detail in the foreground’s lava field and the grandeur of the mountain in the background, with the fully-aero athlete a jarring contrast to the other-worldly landscape.
7) Edvald Boasson Hagen Wins Stage 19 at the Tour de France, July 2017
Photo by: Jered & Ashley Gruber
If you think it looks like Eddy is as much relieved as happy to have won a stage in the world’s biggest bike race, you’re exactly right. After Team Dimension Data lost star sprinter Mark Cavendish to a crash on stage 4, Eddy picked up the baton. Twice he was denied in agonizingly close photo-finishes, twice more he was third. On stage 19 Eddy launched a canny solo attack 2.5km from home and used his huge power to stay clear, take the win, and ensure Dimension Data didn’t go home empty-handed.
8) Hitting Aero Speed, Utah, July 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
We love this image because, all at once, it captures astonishing scenery with the essence of the revised SES Aero Road Bar – speed. Making an image this dynamic, while also catching the setting sun bursting over the hills and just into the frame, also lighting the foliage in the foreground, and then framing the rider in a gap in the leaves all amounts to an immense challenge for the photographer. The most technical images to shoot don’t always have the greatest impact but this one leaves jaws on the floor.
9) Dirty Kanza Bares Its Teeth, Kansas, June 2017
Photo by: Ian Matteson
Gravel races are especially easy to romanticize, in imagery as well as words, lulling potential entrants into a false sense of security about, in this case, Dirty Kanza’s 200 miles of rolling dirt roads. Not so in this shot of a group at the sharp end of this year’s race. With dust and sweat caked together on their skin, faces set in grimaces, and postures that betray the effort of crunching up yet another rise, this is Dirty Kanza laid bare.
10) Sportful Adventure Squadra in Their Element, Oregon, September 2017
Photo by: Joel Sunderland
Never not exploring, the Sportful Adventure Squad headed to the giant playground of Mt Hood in Oregon to get a taste of its hundreds of miles of gravel roads and trails, rolling ENVE SES 4.5 AR wheels. A crisp, sunny day afforded magnificent views to reward their climbing efforts, captured perfectly in this inspiring image.
